Strength

The Emergency Coven Tarot Series: Strength

Upright meanings: courage, kindness, inner strength.

Reversed meanings: lack of confidence, suppressed feelings, avoiding responsibilities.

In classic depictions, the Strength card shows a woman dressed in white taming a lion. Despite the danger, she seems to be perfectly calm and in control of the situation. The lion also appears to peacefully accept the presence of the woman, and opens his mouth under her guide. The message is clear: the woman represents intellect and discipline, while the lion is a symbol of passion and desire. He also represents courage, something that he has in common with the woman, who establishes dominance over him without resorting to brute force. That’s the entire point of this card, when seen upright: the “strength” doesn’t lie in taking over our enemies through fights and violence, but is rather the ability to remain calm and be compassionate even when the situation may seem desperate. To do so, we need to be confident in ourselves and learn to control our instincts and emotions so that they do not take over us. Reversed, the Strength is a sign that we may be lacking that much needed balance between logic and emotions: perhaps we’ve been focusing too much on doing the “rational thing” and in doing so we’ve been suppressing our feelings, or perhaps we’re facing the opposite problems, and we may have a hard time controlling our anger and negative feelings. This may result in lack of confidence, avoiding responsibilities and, as a result, a sense of stagnation. Either way, it may be time to stop for a bit and focus on ourselves to rebuild our self-confidence. 

Although “calm” and “compassionate” may not be the very first words that come to mind when thinking about Adrian, the constant struggle to find a balance between logic and emotions is definitely one of the main traits of his character. Serious and dedicated to his work, he deals with dangerous situations daily and he always does so with great courage. He may not talk much, but you can count on him to get straight to the point and focus on the task at hand without panicking or getting lost in pointless arguments and long-winded reasoning. He’s not very good at showing his feelings and his attitude may not be the most diplomatic one in most cases, but under that armor lies a fiery and passionate man who deeply cares about the people around him and who truly wants to make the world a better place. However, not all his feelings are bright and positive: there is also a lot of darkness and guilt and insecurities… which often tend to come out in the form of anger. And while he usually takes his responsibilities very seriously, there may be a thing or two he’s been avoiding for far too long…